Dashavatar Temple (Gupta-period) - Deogarh, Lalitpur...U. P.

Dashavatara (Vishnu) Temple is located at Deogarh, lying close to the banks of the Betwa river in Central India built in c. 500 AD. The temple is one of the earliest Hindu stone temples to still survive today. Built in the Gupta Period (320 to c. 600 AD), Vishnu Temple shows the ornate and beauty seen in Gupta style architecture. This temple is also a good resource for examining Gupta style sculptures and art. Dashavatara Temple, is the earliest known Panchyatana temple in North India. It depicts ten incarnations of Vishnu. Special features of this ancient temple, which is mostly in ruins, include carved figurines of river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna on the doorway to the sanctum sanctorum, three large carved panels of Vaishnava mythology related to Gajendra Moksha, the Nar Narayan Tapasya (meditation), and the Anantshayi Vishnu reclining on a serpent.